


Has the world gone mad, or is it me?

by Odestaholyship



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Odesta, finnick x annie - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-05 12:30:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5375249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Odestaholyship/pseuds/Odestaholyship
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"How about a popoular and sassy Annie who doesn't need that victor and mentor Finnick Odair to win her Games, since she herself is a career, and then falls from grace in her Games and goes a little mad and goes a little mad and loses her popularity, but after the Games she still tries to help and save herself, since she was always independent until she realized she needs some guidance, and asks Finnick for help and slowly falls for him? Of course keeping her independence and witty comments?" - dododaae's request, Tumblr</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Reaping

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write this in many chapters so that I could follow Annie's journey a bit more specifically, and I'm super excited. The first chapter consists of only the reaping, so nothing very special happens in this one. Hope you'll enjoy this journey with me! And also, special thanks to dododaae, who you should follow on tumblr!

The way Annie saw it now, her own personal hell started on a sunny morning. Standing in the middle of children, no more than a child herself; it was a beautiful morning, indeed.

The warm breeze brushed across her face, sending a few locks of red hair flying out of place from behind her ear. The breeze smelled of the sea, and the salty scent brought her comfort like no other; she had been preparing for the Games since a child, but there was no denying how utterly terrified she was of leaving her home behind and stepping into the brutal spotlight of the Capitol. With a deep breath, she inhaled more of the smell and closed her eyes for a brief moment, imagining the sea in front of her eyes. Its golden horizons, clear waters and the salt that left your skin tingling; Annie had grown up with the sea. And for the first time ever, she was leaving it behind.

"Hello, hello, _hello!_ Happy hunger games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" The chirpy voice broke Annie's thoughts into pieces, and she was forced to open her eyes. A woman in a brightly colored dress and some ridiculous pair of heels was standing on the stage, grasping the microphone like it was the only thing keeping her upright on the heels that seemed way too tall to be possibly walked in. "And _welcome_ to the reaping of the annual 70th Hunger Games!" The woman's voice was chirpy and the note that all Capitol-born people seemed to talk on sounded ridiculous in Annie's ears, and she could nearly hear chuckling all around her. All the people in the districts seemed to loathe the Capitol, and there was not a thing that the Capitol-born people weren't made fun of. Their clothing, their hair, their speaking, their manners - everything was bizarre and something to be laughed about.

When the usual video of the terrible, terrible war that happened decades ago started booming all across the square, Annie took her chance to observe the people standing on the stage. There was the mayor in the middle of it all, but she wasn't the one Annie was interested in; it were the mentors. On the mayor's left side, stood Mags. She was an old woman with gray curls and a bright smile, though she wasn't smiling now - it almost looked like she was engaged into a silent conversation with Finnick Odair, who stood on the mayor's right side. Their eyes were fixed on each other's faces, and Annie could see him raise his eyebrows and Mags giving him a slight shake of her head. Finnick turned his gaze forward, possibly staring at the horizon that could be seen from the square; his face was an emotionless mask, his arms crossed behind his back.

"Amazing," the Capitolian woman's voice broke the silence that had set over the square after the video ended, _"amazing."_ Taking a deep breath, she scampered to the two reaping balls filled with paper slips. She caressed the other one with her hand, placing her eyes on the crowd; the silence was something Annie had only heard in her previous reapings. So silent, so eerie, it was almost loud. "Ladie's first," the woman declared, and Annie could feel herself holding her breath. This was it. Whether it would be her name called out or not, she would be climbing up on that stage.

The woman dug her hand into the reaping ball, hesitating for a moment, calculating on which paper slip to choose. Then she grabbed one in her fingers, and the crowd gasped out loud. The woman cleared her throat loudly, opened the slip and leaned in closer to the microphone: _"Cordelia Marlin!"_

There was a moment of silence that grew bigger and bigger; wherever Cordelia was, she was clearly hoping that someone would volunteer for her. And she didn't have to wait for long, because like she had always imagined she would, Annie called out: "I volunteer!" The crowd gasped again, and Annie knew that the cameras had turned to observe her. _Show no emotion,_ she reminded of herself, _don't show weakness_. _"I volunteer as tribute!"_ She was pleased to hear the strength of her voice; it didn't break, and neither did she.

"I see we have a volunteer - what an _exciting_ twist!" The escot chirped into the mic, gesturing for Annie to take her place on the stage. Her words were all lie, though - District 4 had volunteers nearly every year, and they were more of a formality than an exciting twist these days. But it was different on most districts, and Capitol had to have their exciting twists somehow, even on the career districts. "Come on up, darling, come on, come on!" Annie resisted the urge to flinch when she felt the woman's hand on her shoulder, knowing that it would do no good for the fearless image she was determined to achieve before the Games would start. "What's your name, darling?"

" _Annie._ Annie Cresta." It was like Annie was underwater when she heard the woman state what a courageous young woman the redhaired girl truly was, as if she, as Capitol-born, knew anything about, well, anything.

"And now, time to pick the lucky young man to represent your district!" When the escort started clawing the other reaping ball, Annie could feel someone's eyes on her; she turned her head to see Finnick Odair's eyes fixed on hers, his lips curved up into a slight amused grin that he was famous for. The grin that made women fall on their knees, the grin that had made Finnick Odair the whole nation's darling. That and the fact that he was the youngest victor of the sadictic game that the Capitol called entertainment. Annie raised her eyebrows at the man, but didn't give him any other notice, knowing that it wouldn't be good for the image that she should start maintaining.

_"Zander Herring!"_ The name wasn't familiar to Annie. A cry echoed across the square; a little boy, no more than 13, had started sobbing in the crowd. Annie felt a spike of disgust in her stomach upon seeing the young boy - who could possibly do anything bad to a little child? He didn't deserve this. None of them did.

"I volunteer as tribute!" An older boy had stepped up from the crowd, his eyes filled with worry and panic - he rushed closer to the stage, his voice breaking: "I volunteer, please, I volunteer!" Silence fell again, and Annie could see someone holding the younger boy back, as if any moment he'd break free and climb to the stage before the volunteering boy could have the chance. "Noah! Noah, no! Don't - Noah!" The little boy's voice was desperate, his words turning into shrieks of desperation, relentlessly calling out the name of the older boy.

Noah gave the little boy little notice - a little shake of his head, nothing else. He climbed up the stage two steps at a time, taking the younger boy's place on Annie's left side. The little boy was still screaming, his face reddened with the intensity of his shouting; Annie could see tears glimmering on his cheeks. "Well _that_ was something!" The escort called out, clearly overjoyed with the actual drama happening, "what's your name, young man?"

"Noah Herring," the boy answered, confirming the relation to the little boy. Brothers. A family torn apart, a specialty of the Capitol. Zander's cries were nowhere to be heard, but Annie's chest was still aching with the haunting image of his pained face, all puffy eyed and red. All the rest was a blur. Annie could remember Noah shaking her hand with little enthusiasm, she could recall the Justice Building and the tears on her mother's face, her father telling her how truly proud he was of her, her last breath of the salty air of District 4, and then nothing.


	2. The Train

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie's first hours in the train after leaving District 4.

The moment Annie stepped into the train was a blur, and years later she couldn't quite remember how exactly she ended in the bar car; but there she stood, in front of the large windows. District 4 had already disappeared from sight, but she could still catch one last glimpse of the sea bathing in sunlight. The sight made her heart ache, and only wonder if she would ever return back home. She was highly skilled and trained, but the Games changed people. People changed the Games. Both were ever changing, and there was no predicting what was going to happen, ever.

The silence was broken by the quiet hiss of the automatic door opening and closing behind someone, and Annie took a deep breath. She was in no mood to talk to anyone - not the mentors, not her district partner. And definitely not to the Capitol-born escort - who's name Annie had caught to be Domitia - with her chirpy little attitude and petty manners. The silence grew over Annie and whoever had stepped into the car, and she didn't bother to break it with a greeting nor any other way to signify that she had, in any manner, noticed the intruder.

"Your name's Annie, right?" It was a man's voice. Annie had only heard Noah say two words - his own name - but it had been enough for Annie to remember him by, and this was definitely not him speaking. He was probably in his own room, anyway, thinking how he had gotten himself into the whole mess. Annie stood still, her arms crossed on her chest, staring out the fleeing sight behind the window.

"Well, I called it out on national TV, so it must be, right?" She answered, not bothering to face Finnick Odair, who was apparently chuckling behind her back. The view outside the window was changing every moment, and with slight curiosity she stared at the hills, woods, lakes and beached they crossed - it was something she had never seen before. District 4 had always been all of her world, and it had always been difficult to imagine that there was something else out there. Coldness. Snow. Mines - it all had seemed so distand. Still did.

"Well, you're a witty one, aren't you?" Finnick said, the amusement clear in his voice. She didn't have to turn around to know that the familiar grin was playing on his lips, the very same grin that had gotten half of the Capitol in the victor's grasp. "But I was really expecting an answer, you know. A formal introduction, to make it less awkward, you know?" Annie rolled her eyes at his words and ran her fingers through her red hair, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

Turning around, she shook her head with an ironic smile playing on her lips and said: "Nothing could make this less awkward, _Finnick_." There was truth in her words - in a week she'd be fighting for her life in the arena, quite possibly winning the whole thing, and he was just trying to not be the mentor who's tribute gets killed first. That was all his friendliness was about, and they both know it better than well.

"Is that so, Annie? Or whatever your name is," Finnick said, the corners of his mouth quirking up again when he said the words. Annie couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes, but somehow the gesture made the man grin even wider - like he was enjoying in getting a reaction from people, no matter if it was good or bad. Probably he did enjoy it, if he was even half as shallow as Annie had heard him to be.

"I get why you're here, okay? You want to let us know that you're here to support and help us and all that, _I get it,_ but I don't need you. I know what to expect when I'm out there, and I _don't_ need you. I've been training for this my whole life, and I know what to expect at the arena," Annie let the words pour out, locking her gaze on Finnick's eyes to make her point. She didn't want help from the Capitol's darling, not Noah, not Mags. She had decided to be on her own since the day she had started training for the Games, and she hadn't hesitated to act on the decision ever since.

"Oh, _really_? You ever been on the arena?" Finnick asked, his voice almost as sharp as the girl's, yet there was something so calm and relaxed on his whole being. Like he barely had any interest in the girl's words, like he knew better. "Listen up, darling. If you're thinking that you've got this one in the bag because you've been training your whole life, I suggest you think again. The odds disappear on the arena. Everything disappears on the arena, expect for the instinct to fight to stay alive. I was a 14-year-old kid when I won, you think the odds were on my side?"

Annie didn't answer. She stared at the man, trying to find a way to fire his words back at him, like she always did to everyone. "Oh, behold, the darling of the Capitol has spoken!" The words were cold, and she could almost see Finnick flinch with the sudden sharpness of her words; shaking his head, he ran his fingers through his bronze hair. He crossed his arms behind his back, locking his gaze to the view outside the windows, staring past Annie like she wasn't even there.

"You're one stubborn kid, you know that?" He asked, his eyes now locked on the girl's. Now it was Annie's turn to chuckle; she grasped her chest like his words had hurt her.

"Oh, be still my _broken_ heart!" Annie gasped, and saw Finnick's mouth twitch upwards. "Well, good talk, Odair," she said then, took one last glance at the changing view behind the window and exited the bar car.


	3. Sixteen ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie and Noah have a talk in the train.

Annie let her fingers slide on the paneled wall as she made her way down the hallway; she could barely feel the train's movements, and it was easy to forget where she was. It felt much easier to lie to herself, even if she was here by choice. So she closed her eyes for a few seconds at a time, making her way slowly to the very last car of the train - Domitia had mentioned the big windows and the beautiful sights of the districts passing by, and though she had tried to deny it, Annie had felt curiosity. She wanted to see the big damn windows and the districts passing by, she really did.

The automatic door opened in front of her with a silent hiss; Annie wrapped her cardigan tighter around herself, her bare feet on the cold floor. The first thing she saw were, indeed, the big windows that were the length of the entire wall, from the floor to the roof above her. And it was something she had never seen before. It was something so different from the windows in the other cars, it felt like she was truly out there in the nature. In the middle of the beautiful landscapes that still seemed so unreal to her. The thought almost took her breath away, and she had to remind herself to thank Domitia for the tip about the windows - it would have truly been a crime to miss this.

"Hey." The voice was quiet, but in the silence of the car it made Annie nearly flinch; she had been sure that there was no one in the room! Her sea-green eyes met a pair of brown ones, and for a moment they just stared at each other. Noah looked calm, the look in his eyes distant, almost as distant as Annie felt towards all of the people in the train. So, there they stood, staring, not saying a word: both from District 4, from home, but did home really matter in the arena? Did anything else besides survival?

"Hi," Annie answered, keeping her voice as cool as possible. Her eyes kept slipping to the windows, her gaze playing in the trees she could barely see before they disappeared far behind; it was all a green blurr on their sides. She could feel Noah's eyes on her, but didn't bother to meet his gaze again. She didn't want to see him, the boy that had pushed his screaming brother behind his back, protecting him from the cameras and the Capitol. Annie did now want to feel admiration or sympathy towards him - she couldn't afford any friendship, whether she was in the arena or not. So, instead looking at him, Annie snapped: "You could just take a picture, would last longer than any stare."

But Noah didn't look away, Annie could feel his eyes burning her until she finally gave in and looked at him. His eyes expressed slight interest, his head slightly tilted to the left. "So, you're the little _hero_ that's gonna bring our district glory and riches this year, huh?" He asked, a ghost of a grin playing with the corners of his mouth. Annie couldn't help but noticing the bitter sting towards the end of his sentence, and it wasn't hard imagine what it was; Annie was here on her own terms, a path she chose when she was kid. Noah was here to save his little brother that should have never been reaped in the first place. It was messed up, and Annie realized it too.

"That's the plan," Annie said, letting the thoughts slip away. It was always easier to think about the Games if you really forgot why you were there thinking about them in the first place. And after years of practise, it was fairly easy for her to forget how messed up the Games truly were; _keep your eyes on the prize_ , like her father had always said, _everything else is just a distraction_.

Noah's chuckle was lifeless. His eyes didn't lit up, the corners of his mouth didn't curve upwards. He just stood there, leaning against the window with his side, staring at Annie with eyes more empty than the space above them. "I saw your brother," Annie said, and something sparked behind Noah's eyes. Emotion; longing. Misery. Annie couldn't bear it, and she looked down at her feet like she was ashamed of bringing Zander up.

"Yeah, well, so did the whole country," Noah said eventually, and Annie met his gaze with hers. She took a step closer to the windows, to him, but kept her distance. Noah turned back to the windows, staring at the landscapes that were constantly escaping from their grasps like water that you tried to cup in your hands.

"I've seen you around, you know," Noah told her, "at four. You're pretty much always alone, aren't you?" His words made Annie chuckle, even though there wasn't a joke in them. He was right - Annie spent most of her time alone, not really bothering to make friends. All that had ever mattered to her were the Games. And her sisters, but they were not a topic she would bring up. Ever. To her, the Games and home were two completely different worlds, and she had just stepped from one to another. It would take some time to adjust, but Annie was doing her best at shaking off the last bits of her former world off of herself.

"That comes off _awfully_ stalkerish, you know," said Annie, who desperately wanted to avoid the painful subject that home was. The words were supposed to have a hint of humor in them, but it felt like her smiles died on her lips before they could even really form; she was too anxious. And even though the smallest of smiles was playing with Noah's lips, it disappeared before Annie could catch even a glimpse of it - it was hard to keep up a smile with his little brother's screams echoing in his head on repeat, moment after moment.

"They told me we're gonna arrive in less than an hour," Annie said eventually, and saw Noah flinch slightly. "Suggested for us to get ready, as if that's possible." She could only imagine the flashing cameras and the screaming people, chanting her name that they probably pronounced wrong with their ridiculous little accent. They were so excited for these children, so excited to get some action in their shiny lives filled with parties, riches and luxury. Maybe it was dull to live in all that luxury, but if everything would go according to plan and Annie would win her Games, she wouldn't mind all the money and riches - the fame was something she wasn't so keen on, but it was something that couldn't be escaped if you were a victor.

"I'm nervous," Noah said, as if Annie hadn't picked up on that from his body language. "You know, about the training; I have only three days to memorize so many skills and so much information that could possibly save my life, how am I supposed to do that? I know _nothing_ about survival!" He was clenching his fingers into fists so hard his knuckles were white, and all Annie could feel was sorry for the boy.

"The first thing you should learn is how to find shelter," Annie said quietly, surprising even herself with her words. "You can't master a weapon in three days, but you can learn important practical skills while you're in there. Shelter, traps, camouflage - they're every bit as important as a sword, you know. _Never_  underestimate the basic skills, that's one of the first things I learned on my first day of my training." Noah looked at her with slight interest, like he was pondering on her words and wondering if she was right. Even if he couldn't learn how to throw a spear, he could not die by getting poisoned by some plant that should go nowhere near your mouth.

"How do you find shelter?" He asked the redhaired girl, finally giving in to his curiosity. Annie knew lots about survival and fighting - hell, that's all that her life had been to this day! - and he could really use some advice from someone that was closer to his position. A kid, getting groomed to kill other kids on an arena filled with dangerous mutts and nature that could kill you as easily as a weapon; she might have better chances, but they were still both going on the arena.

Figuring that there would be no harm in simple advice, Annie shrugged. "There's many ways. Depending on what you're looking for; if you want a long stay, you should have a source of water nearby. Trees are great shelter, caves, you can also build your own - it just can't look man-made. Whereve's there's water, you should be there, too."

Noah listened, not saying a word, but nodding every once in a while. She was makings some good points, he couldn't deny that. The girl knew what to expect, when to expect it, and where to expect it. "What do you know about fishing?" Noah asked, tilting his head to the right. The girl looked at him with a strange look in her eyes, like she was trying to figure what he was on about. After a few fleeing moments, she shrugged again.

"My dad taught me the basics, but never really got the hang of it," she said, shame clear in her voice. "Go on, laugh away. From District 4, doesn't know much anything about fishing. _Hardy har_ , and so on." Her tone alone was enough to tell him that she had heard the question before - she had heard people laughing at her, since fishing was something nearly everyone knew something about at District 4. Every kid knew how to make a fishing rod from scratch, how to find decent fishing points by observing the surroundings, and how to make nets.

"What's there to laugh about? While other were fishing, _you_ were learning how to cut one's throat open in twenty different ways," Noah said, a clear hint of bitterness in his light voice. Annie wasn't the greates fisher in town, but she surely knew what she was doing in the Games - pretty much the opposite of Noah, which wasn't necessarily so great for him.

Annie had to forced down a laugh. "Sixteen," she said, and when Noah looked at her with blank eyes, she continued: "I learned to _'cut one's throat open'_ in sixteen different ways."

Not sure whether she was joking or not, Noah bursted out in laughter. The whole situation was so absurd, so ridiculous, it only made him laugh harder; so hard, he was actually worried he'd run out of breath. The girl beside him knew how to kill someone with a knife in sixteen different ways, and though it should've terrified him, it only made him more aware of how hard he would have to fight to not be one of the poor people to be the victim of the sixteen ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll be back soon with the next one! Merry christmas to you all! :)


End file.
